Fowl Play !

It was a beautiful spring day yesterday - sunshine, green grass, bugs and worms crawling happily in the dirt - just the perfect day to let the chickens out of their pen and go on a little adventure.
Little did we realize what an adventure it would be. When I came home after running errands all afternoon, I went to shut the chickens in for the night and as I passed the pasture, here's what I saw :

One of the chickens was swimming in the horse watering trough, surrounded by a few feathers ! What crazy circumstance had deposited here there ? Chickens don't do water ! All kinds of scenarios crossed my head :
a triple dare by another hen? Go on, I bet you can't stay afloat ! Certification for the Red Cross Swimmers Badge ? Deadman's Float - 5 minutes minimum . Extreme Chicken Sports ? Fly as high as you can, fold wings and plummet into the tub or some horrible catastrophe ? Eagle attack !!!! well, more probably chicken hawk attack .Or possibly suicide ??

I plucked out the exhausted bird and placed her gently into the chicken house with her compatriots who were already on their roosts for the night. She seemed fine, if somewhat subdued and very clean, but this morning, alas, she was dead.

And the moral of the story is : overreaching has bad consequences, stick to your area of expertise and definitely don't take your chicken swimming.

Easter Week

Rhys came and visited for a few days before Easter and we had quite an adventure ! She had wished for a chicken, which " doesn't get big ," of her very own and being a good and dutiful grandmother I scoped out a place which had Bantam chickens for sale. Bantams are miniature chickens which won't " get big" - perfect.

We drove off to Amish country and saw the most wonderful sights - Amish buggies of all sorts and sizes clip-clopping down the road, a man plowing a field with a handheld plow while his wife was leading the big workhorse which pulled the plow, we even saw a team of 8 horses plowing.

We stopped to watch and were amazed at the intricate maneuver performed by 8 horses as they turned the plow at the end of the row. The horse on the inside of the turn stepped in place while the outside horse walked around 180 degrees and the rest all adjusted themselves so that the turn was perfectly in line with the next row of plowing. It was really a dressage move and I was amazed to see that the farmer had only one set of reins which communicated with one of the lead horses, the rest all took their cues from that one horse. What must it be like to train a large team like that ?

Sadly, the Amish do not want their pictures taken and we respected that, of course, so if you want to see what I'm describing, you will have to take a trip and come see for yourself.

We found the Amish farm where the chickens were for sale and had a great hunt for chickens all over the farm. They had a huge number of driving horses and when I expressed my amazemnt , the young girl who was taking us around said " I have a lot of brothers. When an Amish boy turns 16, he gets his own driving horse and buggy." Then she added " The girls don't." When I said " Oh, that doesn't seem fair." She smiled and said " Yes, but I know how to drive." And then we looked at each other and had, what I fancied was a small Women's Lib moment. And here is Rhys with Chicken No.1 - Chickadee.

Chicken No.2 - Chitterchet.
And then Easter started in earnest - lots of guests arrived, much food was consumed, every bed was full and yes, the Easter Bunny did come.

And those chickens settled right in and laid 6 eggs in 3 days. I guess you have to watch them carefully to make them produce such a splendid number.

Goodbye chickens - hello coq au vin !

Even though I'm trying to be matter of fact about the demise of the chickens, I obviously wasn't as cool and calm as I thought - look how shaky the last chicken picture is.

They are being "processed" as I write and will be ready for the table in just a few hours.Thank goodness we don't have to do it ourselves ; in the nick of time we found a farm which will kill, pluck, eviscerate and bag the chickens,i.e. " process"them. Chicken barbeque anyone ?

Maybe the chickens should have engaged this artist to escape their fate ?

Weekend Update

The chickens are definitely progressing from cute to dinner !






In a week to 10 days, the only survivor will be the little black chicken - our " free, exotic chick "which is included in every order of chicks from Murray McMurray, our favorite chicken seller.

Chicken Update

Several of you have been wondering how the baby chickens are doing. I have managed to persuade a few to take time out from their busy schedule for a few photographs.

Here's a head shot

Full profile

Did you say you wanted to see some feathers ?

And now we really have to get back to our regularly scheduled program : eating and drinking, interspersed by short naps.

Heeeeeeere, chickie, chickie!

The new chicks have arrived and the whole family is SO EXCITED ! As you can see, R loves them and W is very intrigued. I am beginning to gently explain that these chickens will be our food, and R keeps asking if they hurt when we eat them, or if they feel after we kill them. The whole concept is kind of amazing and bewildering, from a 4 year old's point of view.



Despite the potential of R's emotional trauma when the chicks become our dinner, I am really looking forward to having a freezer full of chickens that I KNOW were raised respectfully, ethically and organically.

One week later...

Look who's getting feathers !

!

And drinking like grown-up chickens !

We're very proud of our acomplishments here at the farm !